In partnership with OCEAN, High School Inc. (HSI) seeks to further support Career Academies at Valley High School in an attempt to contribute to the college and career readiness of Valley High School students.
Career Academies are part of the California Partnership Academies (CPA) model, which incorporate integrated academic and career technical education, business partnerships, mentoring, and internships.
Together, HSI and OCEAN built a driver diagram of learning outcomes, administered student surveys on beliefs toward higher education/career readiness, and conducted interviews with academy mentors and teachers to further understand the mentorship program. In initial research activities, the partnership found that students who had a business mentor and/or participated in core workforce development initiatives such as internships and competitions found the HSI Academies program to be more helpful in assisting them in achieving both their career and college goals than students who did not have those same experiences. Building on these findings, we are in the process of developing a plan to expand these core college and career experiences so that more students can participate and benefit.
Part of this process will include developing logic models for key program initiatives collectively with stakeholders including teachers, mentors, and alumni, beginning with the mentorship program. The purpose is to be able to provide a uniform framework, maximize the benefit for students, and expand the opportunities to more students across all six college and career academies.
To Learn more about High School Inc. Academies Foundation visit their website.
ocean.education.uci.edu 